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Kenya\u2019s high court on Friday blocked the U.N.-backed deployment of Kenyan police<\/a><\/span> officers to Haiti to help the Caribbean country bring gang violence under control<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n Judge Chacha Mwita said Kenya\u2019s National Security Council, which is led by the president, does not have the authority to deploy regular police outside the country. Kenya\u2019s parliament passed a motion<\/a><\/span> in November allowing the deployment of 1,000 officers to lead a multinational force in Haiti<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not contested that there is no reciprocal arrangement between Kenya and Haiti and for that reason, there can be no deployment of police to that country,\u201d Mwita said.<\/p>\n The judge said Kenya\u2019s offer was noble but needed to be carried out in accordance with the constitution.<\/p>\n Mwita made the ruling in response to an application from Thirdway Alliance Party leader Ekuru Aukot, who argued that the government\u2019s plan to send the officers to Haiti was illegal.<\/p>\n Kenyan government spokesperson Isaac Mwaura said it will appeal the decision.<\/p>\n The decision was considered by many to be a blow to Haiti, which first requested the immediate deployment of a foreign armed force in October 2022.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is terrible news for Haitians,\u201d said Diego Da Rin of the International Crisis Group. \u201cThe vast majority of the population was waiting for external help to assist the police regain some control of the capital and the areas most affected by violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Mercy Corps Country Director for Haiti, Laurent Uwumuremyi, supported the High Court\u2019s decision saying that previous international peacekeeping missions \u2014 such as the U.N. mission MINUSTAH that was deployed there 2004-2017 \u2014 and international interventions have had disastrous consequences for Haiti.<\/p>\n \u201cSolutions for Haiti, including those to bolster the Haitian National Police and the army to tamp down violence and return some semblance of security, should be led by Haitians,\u201d Uwumuremyi said.<\/p>\n He said another international intervention might inadvertently worsen the situation, exposing more people to violence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is critical that any intervention is done to restore stability, respects human rights and humanitarian laws, and does not jeopardize or hinder aid operations or worsen the violence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n An unprecedented surge in gang violence is plaguing Haiti, with the number of victims killed, injured and kidnapped more than doubling last year<\/a><\/span>, the U.N. secretary-general\u2019s special envoy for the country said Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot overstress the severity of the situation in Haiti, where multiple protracted crises have reached a critical point,\u201d envoy Maria Isabel Salvador told the U.N. Security Council.<\/p>\n She said the 8,400 victims of gang violence<\/a><\/span> documented by her office last year \u2014 122% more than in 2022 \u2014 were mainly targeted by gangs in Haiti\u2019s capital, Port-au-Prince.<\/p>\n Some 300 gangs control an estimated 80% of the capital and accounted for 83% of last year\u2019s killings and injuries, Salvador said. She said they have expanded north into the Artibonite region<\/a><\/span>, considered Haiti\u2019s food basket, and south of the capital, where \u201cgangs conducted large-scale attacks to control key zones\u201d and systematically use sexual violence to exert control.<\/p>\n Guy Philippe, a former rebel leader in Haiti<\/a><\/span>, implored Kenyans in a video message this week not to allow their police or military be deployed to Haiti.<\/p>\n